PLENTIFUL ENERGY

cadmium cathode whose results we have been calculating in this section were
reported in the literature in 2008. [7] A fourth run has been done, which the Idaho
National Laboratory has kindly given approval to reference. [8] As shown in Table
A-8, Run 4 is very similar to Run 3. It is a valuable check on the reproducibility of
the measured data.
Table A-8. Consistency of Data Run to Run
Run 3 Run 4
Initial PuCl 3 /UCl 3 ratio (meas.) 3.7 3.45
Final PuCl 3 /UCl 3 ratio (meas.) 2.86 2.85
Final PuCl 3 concentration, wt % (meas.) 2.38 2.39
Final UCl 3 concentration, wt% (meas.) 0.83 0.84
Pu metal in cathode, kg (meas.) 0.49 0.55
U metal in cathode, kg (meas.) 0.82 0.77
Final activity ratio, PuCl 3 /UCl 3 3.26 3.27
Pu in PuCd 6 phase, g 0.0 0.0
U in U metal phase, g 204.4 171
Pu in Cd solution, g 492 553
U in Cd solution,g 616.6 616.6
Pu % of saturation 49 56
U % of saturation 100 100
The first six entries are measured values; the next seven give the meaning of the
measurements, converting concentrations to activities, the amounts of plutonium or
uranium in the metal phase (not in cadmium solution), the amounts actually in
solution, and where they are not saturated, the degree of saturation. The degree of
agreement between runs is excellent, lending confidence to all four results.
We now calculate the expected result of each run with its final PuCl 3 /UCl 3 ratio
and compare the calculated results to the measured values from Table A-8.
The important practical result is the richness of the plutonium deposit—the ratio
of plutonium to uranium in the deposit. How well can this important ratio be
estimated from our simple considerations? We know from Table A-7 the actual
degree of saturation of the two actinides when each run was terminated. The runs
were to go until a kilogram of plutonium was deposited. How much uranium can
we expect in each deposit as the PuCl 3 /UCl 3 ratio varies in the three runs?
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